Monday, September 12, 2016

Music: Bad Company - cover by Five Finger Death Punch

Here you go:

I can't find the interview right now, but I recall there being one where the lead singer of Five Finger Death Punch was asked why they titled their album War is the Answer. The reply boiled down to: because it is. Because everything was a struggle.

I first came across this song used to backend a USMC birthday video put together by some troops. I'm torn on covers. Some, if anything are better. As much as I like the original Tears for Fears Mad World, it is a shadow of even the version for Donnie Darko - as overwrought with "I'm so very sad" as that is - and there are many covers in that same mode that are even better, and less overwrought. Others are "meh" - I originally liked the "Orgy" cover of Blue Monday for the palpable anger - but eventually returned to the original New Order when I matured enough to realize how coldly dismissive, and in the end, far more appropriate, it was.

And we're all familiar with stories of covers that, bluntly, suck.

This one, is awesome. It, and the cover of Sound of Silence by Disturbed, rank as two of my all-time favorite re-imaginings.

Despite growing up with country and classic rock, I never really liked the original - the band or the song. This one fucking nails it. Power, grace, timing, crunch, and I love the guys voice.